


The Chair

by Erica_T



Category: Captain America (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Bar/Pub, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Gen, Prompt Fic, Songfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-03
Updated: 2014-02-03
Packaged: 2018-01-11 00:49:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,868
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1166626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Erica_T/pseuds/Erica_T
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They'd been at the bar all of five minutes when he caught sight of her.  Dark hair and curves that went on for days.  Steve had always been partial to brunettes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Chair

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts).



> An answer to Resplendent's posted prompt for a fic based on George Strait's "The Chair". 
> 
> I am not a country music fan, however I did enjoy this song, and it gave me the same S/D feels. 
> 
> It's AU, I hope you like it!
> 
> Note: Unbetaed, so all mistakes are my own, a thousand apologies.

The Chair  
  


Clint's was usually busy of a Friday night.  This was in no way unusual.    
  
The place was popular with a lot of cowds because it had good food, good booze, good prices, and good tunes.  Just about every up and coming band made a stop at Clint's these days.  He had also made sure, when he bought the place, that it had a good dance floor.   
  
Steve and Bucky always went to Clint's on Friday nights.  That was when Clint had the really good bads on the roster, and beer was half price after midnight.  Though, since they had all been buddies at school, Steve and Bucky could usually count on half price beer all night, so long as Natasha wasn't watching.    
  
The evening would usually follow a pattern.  They'd arrive, have a few, listen to the bands, and inevitably Bucky would always find a girl to pick up, sometimes two, if they were up for that kind of thing.  Bucky would then spend some time trying to convince Steve to do the same thing, but he wasn't all that into it.    
  
The kind of girls that Bucky picked up at the bar were college age girls who were just out for a good time.  Steve had never had a problem with that, he just wasn't that kind of person, not even when he'd been in college himself.  If he was going to take a girl home with him, or she him, he wanted more of a connection.  Maybe it was a little crazy, as Bucky was fond of pointing out, they were young and carefree.  But it was what he wanted, and he probably wasn't going to find it at Clint's.    
  
On the other hand...he'd been wrong about things before.   They had been at the bar all of five minutes when he caught sight of her.    
  
She was sitting at the opposite end of the bar, glumly poking at the remains of a plate of french fries and toying with the straw of her drink.    
  
She was very pretty, dark hair and curves that went on for days.  She was dressed for a night out, but looked like she'd rather be anywhere but where she was.  She grabbed his attention fast, unlike everyone else in the bar, she didn't look like she was having a good time, and Steve had always been partial to brunettes.    
  
At one point he managed to snag Clint on his rounds of the bar.   
  
"Hey, who's that?"  He nodded her way.  Clint made it a mission to know about every one who came into his bar, he was nosy like that.  He turned slightly, glancing her way briefly before helpfully refilling Steve's beer.    
  
"Came in with Thor's band."  He nodded toward the stage area, where 'Nordic Thunder' had finished their set and were deconstructing their equipment, while the next band was setting up.    
  
"She's friends with one of the girlfriends.  Didn't catch her name, but I can get Nat to do a recon on her if you want."    
  
Steve shook his head, knowing that it was futile to argue.  Natasha was putting herself through the Police Academy and she took every opportunity to root out information.  She was good at it, almost scarily good at it.  Clint went back to tending his bar, catching their redheaded friend when she brought some empties back to the bar.  Steve saw him speak into her ear, and then she disappeared again into the crowd.    
  
Bucky appeared at his side, looking to refill drinks for himself and a pretty blonde he'd been chatting up in the corner.    
  
"Steve, man, you need to go and talk to that girl."   
  
"What girl?"   
  
"The one that you've been watching for the last half hour.  She's pretty, and given how thrilled she isn't, she's probably going to take off as soon as Thor and his buddies disappear.  Now's your chance."    
  
"And what should I say?  'Hi I've been watching you from across the bar'?  That's a quick way to get a drink in your face, not my idea of a first meeting gone well."   
  
Bucky shook his head.   
  
"You are almost hopeless.  C'mon, you're the man with the plan, you can think of something.  All you need is an excuse to go over there.  Make something up, tell her she's sitting in your chair, or something equally ridiculous."    
  
He grabbed his drinks and disappeared back to his blonde in the corner.    
  
Steve took a long drink from his beer and considered his options.  She looked pretty miserable, and a face like hers was meant to be smiling.    
  
"Her name is Darcy."   
  
Natasha appeared out of nowhere, startling him into almost spilling his drink.    
  
"Fucking hell, Nat, don't do that!  Clint will murder me if I waste his beer."  The woman was like a ninja sometimes, silent and definitely deadly.  He'd seen her with a knife.  She just raised an eyebrow at him while he made sure that he hadn't managed to make a mess of himself.    
  
"Are you done?  Good.  She's new in town, she's come to finish her master's degree at NYU.  She's friends with Thor's new girlfriend."    
  
She nodded over at the stage, where their friend was jokingly serenading a petite brunette girl.  She was blushing, but she was clearly enjoying it as well.  He hadn't met the amazing Jane Foster yet, Thor had been out on a 'tour' the last few months, and met her in New Mexico.  His emails lacked specific details, such as how they'd met, but he was absolutely smitten with her.  She was not what he would have pictured his friend would go for, but he'd been raving about her in all the messages they'd gotten from him for the last month and a half.  Steve looked back at the girl he'd been eyeing, who was watching them with a wistful smile on her face.    
  
He turned back to Natasha again, who was giving him an appraising look.  
  
"What?"   
  
"What, 'what'?"    
  
"You have a comment, I can feel it."   
  
She shrugged and started gathering up the empties around him.  
  
"I don't have a comment.  You should go for it.  She's a nice girl.  Quirky, but nice.  Has a good head on her shoulders.  You'd suit."   
  
He noted that she didn't specify if she would suit him or his he would suit her.   
  
"You've learned all that in five minutes?"  
  
She smirked at him.     
  
"No.  They've been staying at Thor's until they find an apartment.  We've talked."    
  
"Clint said he didn't know her."   
  
"That would be because he's been too busy with the kitchen renovation and hasn't socialized with any other human beings but construction workers and chefs for the last week and a half.  Anyway, Jane is also quite happy to help set her up with a nice guy, and Thor's been telling them about you.  And Barnes too, but I don't think Jane would help me set her friend up with him."    
  
"You are a devious woman, Natasha."    
  
"I know, I try.  Go and talk to her, you idiot.  She needs someone to make her laugh."    
  
She sauntered away with her tray to collect more glasses and orders and left Steve to his thoughts.  
  
He finished his beer and signalled Clint for another.  He brought it to him with a smirk and a raised eyebrow.  
  
"Shut up, I'm going."    
  
He grabbed his beer from him and made his way over to her.    
  
Never let it be said that he couldn't think on his feet, and Bucky's idea was good.  Ludicrous, but good.      
  
"Excuse me, miss, but I think you've got my chair."    
  
That wasn't to say that his last minute plans were things of brilliance.  However, it actually worked.   
  
"Oh, I'm sor---wait, what?  Are you kidding me?"    
  
She had half jumped and started to move, when her brain obviously caught up with her and the look she gave him was equal parts amused and incredulous.  He ran with it.    
  
"Nope.  I come here every Friday, and that's my chair."    
  
She blinked at him, and a slow smile spread across her face.  It was much better than the frown she'd been sporting before.    
  
"Uh huh."  She eyed him up and down, considering.  "Well, how about you sit on this," she kicked out a stool from under the lip of the bar, "and as long as you don't mind, we can share the bar space."    
  
He grinned at her.  
  
"I don't mind at all.  I'm Steve."    
  
"Darcy.  But I suppose you already knew that.  I saw Natasha talking to you.  You must be one of Thor's friends that we haven't met yet."  
  
"Guilty."    
  
"Are you the one that is constantly picking up women in bars, or the one that never picks up anyone ever?"    
  
"Uh, the latter."    
  
"Hm.  Okay then."   
  
He wasn't quite sure what to make of the comment, so he elected to change the subject.    
  
"Can I buy you a drink, Darcy?"  He gave her his most winning smile.    
  
She eyed him again, like she was evaluating him.  He was used to looks like that in bars, and this time he really hoped that he measured up.  She relaxed in her seat, just a fraction, and smiled broadly at him.    
  
"Alright."   
  
He signalled Clint to bring her another, just as the next band started up their first song.  The man smirked at him and left them with a wink.  Darcy shook her head with a smile.  
  
"What, do you know everyone around here?"   
  
Steve laughed and shook his head.  
  
"Nope.  That's Clint though, he's Nat's...significant other."  No one was ever sure just how to describe the relationship between Clint and Nat.  There never seemed to be enough in a word to capture it.  Theirs was the kind of relationship that he wanted though, where you were in tune with your partner so perfectly that you could almost finish each others sentences.  "We all went to school together."    
  
"Ahh.  Well, you know more people here than I do.  You know by now that I'm new in town."    
  
"How are you liking it so far?"  
  
"It's loud and busy. But I'm loud and busy, so I think I'm going to manage just fine.  How long have you lived here?"   
  
"All my life.  It's a pain in the ass to live here sometimes, but it's home."    
  
The music got loud, swelling up on the chorus of the song the band was playing, and further conversation was drowned out for a few moments.  The new band was similar in style to Nordic Thunder, and they were almost as good.  He was about to comment on them when Darcy beat him to it.  
  
"These guys are pretty rockin'.  Do you know who they are?"    
  
Steve shook his head.   
  
"Nope, but they are pretty good, aren't they?"   
  
"They're no Nordic Thunder, which is why I agreed to be dragged out tonight, but I like 'em."  
  
"Clint always gets the best bands in here on Fridays.  Thor was so thrilled when he booked them in for their first Friday night."    
  
"I'll bet.  I've only known him for like, a month, and he's just been this big teddy bear, you know?"    
  
"Do you know the story of how he met Jane?  His emails have been...vague."   
  
She suddenly burst out laughing, rocking back in her seat with the force of it.  Steve found himself smiling at her exuberance.  This was what she should be doing, not moping.  
  
"Oh my god, I am so not surprised that he wouldn't be shouting that from the rooftops.  Jane hit him with her van, twice, and I may have tased him the first tme."    
  
He stared at her as she wiped tears from her eyes.    
  
"What?"       
  
"Jane's an astrophysicist, and we were out in the desert one night chasing her data.  Well, good old Nordic Thunder was apparently camping out there because they got lost and didn't make it to town.  They were having a bonfire, Thor had slipped away for whatever reasons, and appeared right in front of us in the middle of our data chasing.  We didn't hit him hard, but he was kinda drunk."  
  
"And the tasering?"   
  
"He was freaking me out."   She shrugged, and was absolutely non apologetic.    
  
Steve was trying very hard not to laugh, and wasn't entirely successful.   
  
"And the second time she hit him with her van?"   
  
"Hospital parking lot.  He released himself before we got there the next morning, y'know, to check on him, and Jane was ranting about it, wasn't payng attention as she backed out of the space, and wham!  Down again.  He wasn't seriously injured though, so don't worry about him."   
  
"Actually, I think I'm more worried about her van."   
  
She laughed again, and smacked his shoulder.  Then she waved her hand about, hissing.  
  
"Holy shit, Thor wasn't kidding when he said you were a strong guy, what have you got in there, bricks?"    
  
He laughed and took her hand to help her rub out the sting.    
  
"Nope.  I'm ex military.  They have a good physical training program, I've never gotten out of the habit."    
  
"Ex military?  What do you do now?"   
  
"Security consultant.  I work with a lot of high profile people on personal and professional security, and I run a physical training program for security teams."   
  
"Wow.  Sounds really involved.  I'm doing a masters in political science, and I have no idea what I'm going to do with it."   
  
"Well...if that doesn't work out for you, I can train you to be someone's bodyguard.  That and your taser, you'd be a force to reckon with."   
  
"I am a force to reckon with."  She was smirking at him, eyes twinkling mischievously behind her glasses.    
  
The music came to his attention again, and hers as well, because she was swaying to the beat in her seat.  Steve finished his beer quickly.    
  
"Would you like to dance?" He asked, nodding to the rapidly refilling dance floor.  The smile she flashed him this time was absolutely blinding.    
  
"Sure."  
  
She hopped off the chair and he followed her out onto the floor, one hand at her back.    
  
Steve was not a gifted dancer.  He could shuffle and sway, and that was about it.  Fortunately, one didn't need to have mad dancing skills to dance at Clint's.  There was never enough space for that kind of fancy footwork.  He and Darcy settled into a good rythym really quickly though, which surprised him.  When he's attempted to dance with women before, it took a song or two to reach a mutual understanding of how this was going to work, but with Darcy, her hips just fit into his hands like they'd been molded for them, and they shuffled and swayed practically in sync.  Even she seemed a bit surprised.   
  
"Hey, we're not half bad at this shit.  Usually I step on people."  
  
"Huh, me too."   He laughed, and she giggled.  There was something about the sound of her laugh that made him warm inside, and he liked it.    
  
They danced that way until the band changed up to a slower song, one about first meetings and taking chances.  Darcy slowly shifted her arms up to wind around his neck, and after a moment he slid shis hands to the small of her back, pulling her in so close, he could feel her breathing.  He caught sight of Bucky and his blonde across the floor, and Bucky gave him a thumbs up.      
  
"I like this song."  She murmured, just loud enough for him to hear.    
  
"Me too.  Kind of reminds me of me and you."    
  
"Gonna take a chance on me, Steve?"   
  
"I think I already did.  S'workin' out just fine, from my side of things."   
  
She smiled up at him.       
  
"Mine too."    
  
That was the moment she happened to glance around, and caught sight of Thor and Jane, pressed together under one of the overhead lights.  She muffled a groan into his shirt.   
  
"Urg.  You know, I'm a supportive friend.  I was cool with following her to New York, because hey, Culver didn't have the courses I wanted, and I get to keep my job with her if I stick around, but I did not sign up for ring side seats to Jane and Thor happy hour.  And they're my ride tonight."  
  
"Are they that bad?"   
  
"They're so adorable, it's almost vomit inducing."  
  
"Well...I could drive you home.  If you're okay with that."  
  
She grinned up at him, the same slow smile from earlier spreading across her face, and a wicked gleam in her eye.    
  
"Steve, I'm pretty sure that if you drive me home, I'll insist that you take me to your place."    
  
He met her eyes and grinned back at her.  
  
"I'm pretty sure that I'm okay with that."    
  
She leaned up and pressed her lips to his, briefly.  
  
"Let's get out of here then, soldier."    
  
"Yes, ma'am."    
  
As he was leading her out the door, he tugged her close for another kiss.  
  
"You know, to tell the truth, that wasn't my chair after all."  He whispered against her lips.      
  
"Yeah, I know."  She winked at him as she took his hand and pulled him out into the night.

**Author's Note:**

> There may or may not be a second chapter, y'know, after they get back to Steve's place, wink wink, nudge nudge. It has to get itself out of my brain and onto the page first.


End file.
